Berat Albayrak, the finance minister, resigned from the post a day after the central bank’s governor was sacked. The message was revealed in an Instagram post by the former finance minister’s official Instagram account.
According to Aljazeera, the Turkish finance minister has cited health reasons for his exit from the post, as per a statement in his verified Instagram account.
“After serving in ministerial posts for nearly five years, I took the decision not to continue my duty (as finance minister) due to health issues,” Albayrak, who is also the son-in-law of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said on Sunday.
The finance minister said that he would like to spend more time with his family. Similarly, he said that he has ignored his family during his “political life” and would like to resign now.
Central Bank Governor sacked
Berat Albayrak’s decision comes a day after President Erdogan sacked the central bank governor. This happened when the Turkish lira lost 30% of its value against the United States dollar since the start of the year.
However, a new governor was appointed. The new governor is the former finance minister Naci Abal who replaced Murat Uysal. He was sacked by a presidential decree on Saturday, as his predecessor Murat Cetinkaya was in July 2019.
During Albayrak’s two year office as finance minister, Turkey suffered a huge currency crisis in 2018. After that followed a recession, and afterward, Lira hit multiple record low against the US dollar this year.
Reactions
As a result of the departure of turkey’s two top finance executives and policymakers, the Lira boosted, which stood at 8.36 against the US dollars.
Deputy Transport minister omer Faith Sayan said on Twitter that he hopes that the President would reject Albayrak’s resignation. Also, he said that the country, people, and community needs Albayrak.
Mehmet Mus, the deputy parliamentary group chairman of Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, said Albayrak had taken important steps to strengthen the economy. And that he hoped Erdogan would not accept the resignation.
“We personally witnessed his diligent work. If our president sees fit, I hope he continues at his post,” Mus said on Twitter.
Resignation
The Finance minister is president Erdogan’s son in law. It is doubtful whether the presidents will accept his resignation as no statement has been given on this.
Earlier this year, the Turkish interior minister resigned, but Erdogan did not accept it.
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